And only his eyes gave away the true age of my parents – they glittered with knowledge and centuries of wisdom, and seemed to pierce the consciousness.
Markus and Mariszka were sitting in the far corner, whispering about something. It was our custom not to eavesdrop on each other, so no one paid attention to their confidential conversation. Or rather, love cooing.
When I entered the hall, my father was telling my mother about an old friend who was soon going to visit us for a couple of days. This news did not make me happy: friends were nothing but trouble for our family. Almost every month one of my father's or mother's friends would visit our castle, either alone or in clans, and then things would get very bad. The Praguers. Since it cost a lot of money to feed a horde of vampires, from the very first day of their stay, the Prague newspapers trumpeted that Prague was once again home to a maniac. Other journalists speculated about an unknown predator killing people in the woods. Some vampires behaved too openly and brazenly: despite strict warnings not to kill unnecessarily, they killed for fun. I was always annoyed by it, but my father stubbornly forgave those apostates, arguing that they had been friends for centuries.
I sat down in one of the armchairs and thought about my feelings. Lately I had been thinking of Viper, of her image before my eyes, of her voice, and of my desire to meet her. These reflections did not lead me to a definite conclusion, and no matter how strictly I ordered myself to suppress these thoughts, they returned again and again, making me worry that I had begun to think of a human being. I pondered, wondering to myself, until I heard my mother call my name – this brought me out of the captivity of my thoughts.
– …Cedric a new car. His old wreck is driving me out of my mind.
It's trivial: my mother has once again started another unnecessary conversation about the fact that I should replace the car. Until today I managed to protect my faithful humble friend, but today, in my thoughts, I was far away from this hall, so this time I did not really resist my mother's insistence to make me a "worthy vampire".
– We've talked about this so many times. Has your ardour still not cooled? – I smiled weakly at my mother.
– You know me, darling: I will insist until you replace your old wreck with a more dignified vehicle! You're Morgan! – exclaimed my mother, clearly not going to give in to this argument.
– Well, for the hundredth time, I'm happy with my car, and I'm not going to part with it.
– But let's face it: it's been looking like an old painted can for a long time. And I'm ashamed that my son drives such an old and unusable car!
– You're the only one who can't accept this sad fact, because everyone but you is not annoyed by my Toyota," I said ironically to this.
– We're just silently tolerating it," Markus's mocking voice came through.
I glanced at my father, silently begging him to cool my mother's temper and make her leave me alone, but he just shrugged and grinned dolefully.
– Well, it looks like all the Morgans are united against my choice," I grinned. – What about you, Mariszka?
– I can't go against my fiancé's judgement! – she replied cheerfully.
– I see, my opinion is not interested in anyone, – I smiled sarcastically.
– Of course you do, but in this case, the majority opinion should be your judgement. – Markus was in his repertoire: we loved to banter with each other, and today he was the star of a slapstick comedy show.
